Inheritance Cycle Reborn: Book 1 - Ancient (Discontinued for now)
by Aidanrvb09
Summary: Eragon and Saphira finally find a place safe enough to protect the dragon eggs and Eldunari they found in the Vault. After about a week of flying from region to region, they decide to settle in an empty valley with large mountainous boundaries on a random island in an area they believed to be uninhabited. However, they find many races similar to those on Alagaesia. Post Book 4.
1. Chapter 1: Restless Memories

* A/N: Hello, I'm new to fanfiction. So that means this is my first fanfic for Inheritance Cycle and.. ever. Anyways, a lot of people have been disappointed at the ending from Chris Paolini's last book to the IC series with Eragon and Saphira leaving forever and all that, especially since Eragon finally discovers Arya has feelings for him. (I was also hoping we'd learn more about Dragon Courting, but didn't like the FirnenxSaphira thing happening... Didn't like that Saphira tried to go for Glaedr earlier in Eldest either though). I'm here to try and bring life back into those who were disappointed because I certainly was and I know most o0f you out there were as well. I'm going to try my best to end that. This story is about Eragon and Saphira who settle far to the east of Alagaesia to protect the eggs. They settle on a large mountainous island known as Varvadell and think that it's uninhabited (not including harmless animals). They discover that this island is more than far from what they aspect. I might be doing many fanficts within this book, but this is supposed to be a very long and complicated story. Read, review, share ideas, and tell me what you think. Thanks, I'm Aidanrvb09... enjoy!

Overview: Eragon and Saphira finally find a place safe enough to protect the dragon eggs and Eldunari they found in the Vault. After about a week of flying from region to region, they decide to settle in an empty valley with large mountainous boundaries on a random island in an area they believed to be uninhabited. This island lies beyond the Eastern Sea and very far from Alagaesia. They do not know the name of the island and neither does Alagaesia based on what they know. However, what appears to be a quiet and lonely island turns out to be a land filled with many creatures similar to the ones in Alagaesia. They find an Underground Civilization and ancient creatures Eragon never heard of called Gnomes. What he discovers on that lonely island will change everything the world knew about dragons and dragonriders. For he discovers that this underground society of what appears to be an underground kingdoms of greedy thieves and filthy miners secretly holds a council of remarkable heroes that have been forgotten throughout the history and have been thought to have disappeared off the face of the world. These people call themselves the Legendary Council of Five and are none other than five ancient legendary dragonriders. He learns that the territories of the island are breaking apart into war. This story tells of an epic tale between new and old characters! This is a story of action, adventure, mystery, and romance. This is the Inheritance Cycle Reborn.

Chapter 1: Restless Memories

"Eragon awoke from his slumber again feeling as restless as he did the other night before." It has been over two weeks since they first discovered this valley and all they found within it were but wild birds and harmless rodents. "I searched this place enough to find nothing that could jeopardize the safety of the eggs, but... why do I still feel uneasy about this place?" he thought aloud to himself. He thought it as if not to let Saphira hear him, but he was truly hoping she would help counsel his decision to settle here. He waited a short while listening in the darkness of the night to see if Saphira would respond to his thoughts, but sure enough she didn't. He was slightly frustrated that Saphira did not respond to his thoughts, feeling as if she finally didn't care enough to give him comforting advice. He quickly let go of his frustration. "I can't say I blame her," he thought again to himself, " how would I feel if I were flying unending with all those eggs and eldunari on my back." He moved to a more comfortable position on the grass he was lying on, but that still couldn't ease his conscience. As soon as he realized he wouldn't be able to fall asleep, he quickly got up and walked out from the tree he and Saphira were sleeping under.

Still feeling uneasy, he came to a hollow opening in the tree where he kept all of his gear. He decided to equip his belt that had his sword sheathed and ready if he needed it. As he picked it up, he could see the two dragon eggs he hid within the opening. In the darkness, they illuminated the opening with a dim amber light, which looked splendid in the night sky. One of the eggs was emanating a crimson color that was a little darker than Murtagh's red dragon Thorn and the other egg which emanate a brighter yellow light which emanated only slightly as the crimson egg was on top of the it covering most of the light it created. Eragon also had three Eldunari in the opening at the very bottom of the opening, which he could easily retrieve from another hollow opening at the bottom of the tree. He covered that opening with a stone so nothing would give away the hiding spot. As he equipped his belt, he slowly walked out from under the tree he and had Saphira slept.

He looked up at the tree he came from. The tree was very tall with branches two times as long as Saphira. He watched as the valley wind slowly brushed against the branches creating an echo of dancing leaves within the valley's mountainous boundaries. He looked at hidden cave entrance in which he kept most of the eggs and Eldunari they brought with them. He had remembered that Saphira had helped cover the entrance with a large boulder and piles of rocks and moss as hide them without suspicion. However, some eggs were scattered throughout the valley, so if someone were to find one hideaway, he wouldn't get all of them.

As he began recalling these memories to himself, he began to wonder again why he was so uneasy about this valley. He felt almost as if someone was watching his and Saphira's every movement through the open valley plains, but he thought again that he would be able to see or at least know if someone was watching them... Was he? He began to think that if someone were watching them that they would know where all the eggs were hiding. This made him uneasy and began thinking that maybe some of the eggs had already been taken. He decided that tomorrow morning he and Saphira would search all the hideaways at dawn. He felt obligated to search now, but as he turned to see Saphira, he immediately felt saw her deep in her slumber. However, since he couldn't get any sleep he decided to stand watch outside the tree and sat down quietly on top of a nearby boulder sitting on the grassy hilltop.

He picked up a thin branch on the ground next to the boulder from the tree and as he sat down began playing with the soil at his feet. "Iviste." He whispered quietly, this word meant tree in the Ancient Language. This magical word made the branch twirl around in the dirt. He began thinking about Alagaesia, his home. He dearly missed the company of the humans, elves, and dwarves. The company of his friends he had made and kept from birth. He thought of Roran and his wife Katrina. He wondered aloud to himself how they might be living without Galbatorix as their king. Every thing he imagined was joyful and exciting. He imagined Alagaesia to be celebrating throughout the land with their newfound freedom. This brought a small smile to his face, but that smiling quickly disappeared. "I can't think of such things anymore," he whispered to himself.

He remembered Angela's fortune. Her words echoed in his mind, "your fate will be to leave this land forever. Where you will end up, I know not, but you will never again stand in Alagaesia." He began to mimic the last words she said concerning this prophecy, "This is inescapable." He had thought of trying to leave the valley and thinking these memories of home made him want to try, but he knew he had to remain here with the eggs. He tried to avoid these memories, all the memories he had he pushed away, but they always came back.

All the memories want to come back to him and he wanted to remember, but he continued to push them away. Suddenly, he heard the words of a young woman who spoke to him with a voice sounded like that of a angel," Can you here me, Eragon?" The voice said to him in with an eary, unnatural echo that followed. He immediately recognized whose voice had spoken. "Arya?" He said out loud. He knew it was only in his head, but it sound, or at least felt to him so real. Like she was right there in front of him. He listened to see if he could hear her again, but no response came to him.

All he could hear was the fading of the wind brushing against the trees. "Was that really her voice... or was that...," he said with a silent pause at the end, waiting to hear it again, "just a thought; just my imagination." As he said this he became convince that it was his mind playing tricks on him. This only brought him more pain. Even though he was 18 he felt his eyes begin to water up. He tried to fight the tears back, but as the first tear ran down his cheek he began to sob a little harder. The tear landed in the center of the image he made with the branch he was playing with.

Saphira awoke to the sound of his weeping and immediately felt his pain within her own heart. She quietly came out of the tree and came to Eragon's side as to comfort him. She sat there for a moment, taking her time to hear his thoughts before he pushed them away from his mind. She knows Eragon well enough to know that in times such as this Eragon would not want her to hear his thoughts. To Eragon, thoughts such as these were private and for him alone and sometimes tried to keep them away from Saphira.

As she read his thoughts, her emotions began to stir up in her heart as well, not just for Eragon's sake, but these memories reminded her of Firnen, Arya's Dragon. Even though, Saphira only knew Firnen for a short time, she loved him. These feelings she had for Firnen were drawn partially because of the bond she shared with Eragon and the feelings Eragon and Arya had for each other. However, dragons are not complete slaves even when they are bound to a rider. She knew this when she had the same feelings for Glaedr before he died. Eragon turned and noticed Saphira sit there beside him. "Saphira," he said startled, he quickly brushed away the tears on his face to hide his emotions. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." Saphira took in a deep sigh of pity and sorrow for both her and her rider.

"Eragon," she thought out loud in a quiet and comforting manner, "I know how you feel." He sat there wondering if she truly did. Even though she mated with Firnen, he wondered if being a dragon receded such emotions as time went on. He experienced such in Saphira because of the bond she shares to Eragon. She continued in a comforting, but sorrowful way, "Leaving them in Alagaesia is one of the hardest things we'll ever experienced, but we've experienced worse and we arose victorious, together." He thought about what she said and this brought more comfort to him. "Even though we may never walk where they walk. Hope is not lost... for the future, for the dragon riders, or for them. Arya and Firnen." She said this with growing pride and mote determination to comfort comforted him, but his mind was trying to convince him she was wrong.

When saw her comforting advice was beginning to fail, and continued, "Eragon," she said again in a quiet tone, "Our strength together helped us prevail. I promise you it will again." Eragon was comforted by her promise, but he wasn't sure if she was truly sincere, "Will I ever see her again?" He thought aloud without saying anything. Saphira was upset he said I instead of we, noticing this Eragon quickly changed what he said, "Will we ever see them again?" She looked at him silently. "Can you Promise me that?" Saphira looked into his eyes and thought hard about his question. She saw he wanted her to tell him the entirety of what she thought. She knew it wasn't a high chance for Eragon to get his wish, but something told her that his wish would be granted. "I promise." She said to Eragon. Eragon trusted her more than anyone, but Saphira knew she couldn't trust herself. She told Eragon what she thought, but she wondered to herself if she was right.

Seeing Eragon's comforted smile brought her peace with her response. However, Saphira looked passed Eragon's smile and noticed something strange in the ground below the boulder. Eragon noticed her puzzled expression and quickly looked at the ground himself. In the center of the image where his teardrop had landed was a bright white growing coming from the ground. He stared at it for a short moment before he heard something behind him fall to the ground. At first, he thought it was the tree, but he looked up to see that the tree was still there. Saphira had collapsed to the ground and looked as if she was dead. "Saphira!" He shouted very worried wondering if she was dead of dying.

Before he could examine Saphira's motionless body he heard an ominous humming behind him. He heard it coming from the white light. As he stared into it, he began to loose his consciousness. He tried to stay up, but the humming nauseated him and he fell to the floor. Before his eyes blurred he looked in front of him to find two short figures standing right in front of him. Another short figure came up, from him he heard one father talk in a strange high pitch voice "Who are they, what should we do with 'em?" Before any of them could answer somebody who appeared to have taller legs came up and knelt before him saying, "I don't know who they are, but they're not from around here."

As Eragon drifted back and forth, going unconscious any secod he could here a different strange high-pitch voice saying, "Well, can you guess where they came from?" The last thing he heard responded saying, "I think I have an idea, but if I'm wrong I know who will." These words echoed in his mind as he completely fell unconscious. Her heard Arya's faint voice again, "Can you hear me, Eragon?"


	2. Chapter 2: Questions and Answers

* A/N: Okay I read all the reviews I got some questions that I forgot to answer previously. This is supposed to be a EragonxArya story, not EragonxSaphira or something like that. I want to find some romance for Saphira to be able to explore dragon courting deeper, but I didn't like either the Firnen or Glaedr match for her. I edited my first chapter by breaking it up into paragraphs to make it easier to read (Sorry I didn't do that earlier) and I did the same thing for this chapter. I will also say that everything Eragon is hearing isn't truly Arya. I will also say that there is more to what he's seeing than he knows. They aren't just thoughts. I will connect deeper on that later in the story. I will say that they will eventually see each other again. Anyways, read, review, share any ideas or thoughts, definitely feel free to ask questions (wouldn't be a good story if nothing was answered. Ask more questions; I'll read all of the reviews and answer all questions you have either in an A/N or in the story itself. Anyways, read the quick note titled BEFORE YOU READ below before you actually read the next chapter. It'll make a lot more sense if you do.

BEFORE YOU READ: Okay, after you guys read this you're going to ask me a lot of questions. Some questions are answered, but new ones are created, even if the characters or this chapter doesn't directly address them. Just know that I put many questions into this story. However, if you feel the need to ask a question, ask it. Please ask me! I'm not going to get anywhere if I can't answer any questions. Anyways, thanks for taking your time to read this quick note. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Questions and Answers

Eragon awoke as soon as he regained his consciousness. The swiftness to sit up made him daze with nausea. He looked up towards the mountain and felt as if the rocky boundaries were closing in around him. As he tried to recall what had happened to him his head began to throb with pain. As the pain started to die down, he began to recall what had happened. "Saphira!" He shouted out loud thinking Saphira was still lying there next to him, but a he turned around he couldn't see her where she was. He looked at the spot she previously had been, but she wasn't there. Eragon hit the ground with a close fist and grunted in frustration a he got up from his resting place.

As he stood up, the pain in his head increased and he began to swerve left to right. He almost fell before he used the boulder to catch his fall.

As he looked up from the boulder, he noticed that the rock that was meant to be covering the hiding spot for the two eggs was moved and the hollow opening was revealed. The pain in his finally began to recede as he ran up to the hollow opening in the tree.

When he looked inside, he noticed all the eggs and eldunari were gone. He immediately felt a sense of failure at the thought that he lost these eggs and he realized at this thought that if whoever took Saphira and found this hideaway must have found the others. He quickly looked towards the hidden cave hoping they didn't get those ones as well. To his dismay, the boulder that entombed the eggs was slightly opened up.

As Eragon saw the entrance, he noticed the morning sunlight reflecting shimmering blue object that that hung from the boulder. He ran up to the object and found one of Saphira's scales with a one of thr edges smashed into a notch dangling on the boulder. "They must have locked her inside," he thought to himself. For the cave was only a hollowed out hole with a no passage or tunnel to go through, though it was definitely big enough to hold Saphira. "Moi Stenr!" He shouted. As he cast the spell to move the boulder out of the way, the weight of the words began to weaken the energy he had. He closed his eyes as his own limitation allowed the energy to be drained from his essence. As he finished pushing the boulder and opened his eyes he looked inside the cave and found no eggs, Eldunari, or even Saphira herself. He felt a strong sense that he was here, but puzzled over the fact the she was nowhere to be found. He moved into the cave to see if he missed anything that might give him a clue to where Saphira might be. As he moved inside he took a step and pushed part of a stone deeper into the ground. This caused him to loose his balance.

As he looked up the end of the cave opened up into a large chasm. "This must be where they took them." He thought aloud to himself. As he looked into the dark depths of the cavern he quickly drew his sword Brisingr to ready himself if one of those creatures were lurking in the shadows as he moved in, he found a torch, lit next to the entrance of the tomb. He took it from its resting place, and as it did, he heard something like a stone grinding against another stone and realized that the opening to the chasm began to close. As it shut, the echo of the stone sealing in place shook the chasm. Eragon stood their frozen for a long moment, "If nobody knew I was coming now," he thought. "Then they probably know now." Eragon wanted to use the ancient word for light, but knew that he used most of his energy moving the boulder to show the interior of the cave. "If I'm to use magic," he thought to himself. "I use it to defend myself." He knew this was his wisest move, even though it was also the most dangerous. Anyone or anything could be lurking in this dark chasm.

Suddenly, he heard something jump along the ceiling of the chasm. He tried to follow the pattern of the noise with where he thought the noise was coming from. As this happened a pile of sand and pebbles fell to his shoulder an after that, something that felt like water. Eragon slowly looked up in fear and saw a big snarling insect drooling over him. The beast snarled and tried to snap at Eragon, but missed as Eragon ran to the other side. Eragon quickly swung his sword the the side of this creature's mouth when it tried to snap, but the beast quickly pushed Eragon to the ground. He landed on the edge of the cliff leading into the dark mountainous depths below. As this happened, Brisingr flew from his hand and sunk into the depths of the chasm below . As the beast recovered, it stared right back at him with dark red eyes. Eragon quickly jumped to his feet with the torch still in his left hand and examined his path to find an opening of which to escape.

As he looked back at the beast, it began to act strangely with the torch in front of him. "Fire?" He said was curious, but excited to discover that this creature was afraid of fire. He swung the torch in front if the beast showing more of the beasts body. It moved back slightly in fear. "So you're afraid of fire." He swung at it three more times as it backed further away, cowering in fear of getting hit by the end of the torch.

Eragon slowly backed away from the edge of the cliff still watching the creature in front of him. Even though it was afraid of fire, it still kept its distance and watched in case Eragon were to drop the torch or exploit a mistake. Eragon walked cautiously making sure the beast wouldn't attack him, and that he wouldn't fall into the dark chasm. As he got closer to the exit, he norm ticked a small exit leading into the other side of the chasm. This hole was small enough for Eragon to escape without that creature being able to follow.

As he turned around, the beast was gone. He looked back in the direction if the exit and noticed the creature moved around and was now standing in front of him. The creature tried to take another bite at him. It missed, but startled, Eragon fell off the path, dropped the torch into the chasm, hanging off the rim of the path by his left hand. He watched as the torch fell deeper and deeper into the canyon. He quickly turned to the path to support himself from falling by placing both if his hands on the rim.

Before he could hoist himself up, the beast slowly crept up in front of him. His eyes grew wide in terror at the sight of this abomination about to devour him. As the beast began to snap its hideous pinchers at Eragon, a very bright light emirates from behind Eragon. This illumination blinded the beast. Eragon tried to look behind him to see what was giving such a bright light source, but dangling off the edge of a cliff didn't allow him to look back. He decided to quickly continue hoisting himself up before the light faded.

As he got back up onto the pathway, he saw the beast being drawn further back towards the way he'd come into this cavern by the light. As the light began to dim, he began to see a tall figure that appeared to be the tall figure who was there the last time he saw Saphira. Before it completely dimmed he saw a tall figure which appeared to be the same tall figure he heard when he was loosing his consiousness. When the light faded completely he could see the figure, which now appeared to be a shadow in the dark running towards the far side of the canyon. Eragon was determined to chase this guy down. To find out who he was, what happened to the eggs and to the eldunari, where Saphira was, and why he saved his life, but before he could heard the creatures running towards him with it's many legs. Eragon ran back towards the exit, diving into the hole just before that creature could snap its pinchers on him again. The creatures struggled to try and reached inside the hole, which was to small for him to fully fit inside to grab Eragon. When Eragon saw how close it was getting to him he crawled away still on the floor from when dive in.

As soon as he hit solid rock behind him, he hugged it waiting for the creature to get leave. The creature finally gave up after a while of reaching in the whole and receded back into the dark chasm. Eragon gave a long sigh of relief. He sat there and began to wonder to himself, "who was that person who saved my life?" He thought to himself. "But wasn't he the one who knocked me out and took Saphira." Knowing he wouldn't find his answers sitting around and waiting for them to come up spontaneously, he stood back up and brushed the dirt off his tunic. He looked for the pathway forward and began to walk slowly. Eragon had never seen anything like that in Alagaesia. This only made him wonder what else could be on such an island as this."We'll, I guess I don't have a torch anymore," he whispered aloud to himself as he finished getting off the ground, "Garjzla." He whispered as the word brought up a bright light similar to the one that blinded that creature. He quickly realized that whoever that man was is able to use magic. "That explains how he was able to knock us out and take Saphira without needing to fight." He thought to himself. The mystery is beginning to unfold and he knew more would be answered once he found that man. Before he encounters a magician though he forgot that he lost Brisingr! He needed to find a weapon.


	3. Chapter 3: The Plans Unfold

* A/N: This chapter goes back to Alagaesia and is a little short, so I wrote the fourth chapter as well. Some people I think were confused about the eggs and eldunari that were taken. They found the hidden cave and the hollow area in the tree and Eragon expects that the rest of the hiding spots were found as well but isn't quite sure. Saphira was also taken somehow, but Eragon doesn't know why. I think someone was confused about that fact as well, but I wasn't sure. Anyways, Arya has her own dragon Firnen and is working to keep Alagaesia together after overthrowing Galbatorix's corrupt empire. She doing well and made a ton of progress since Eragon left. This chapter brings us back to Alagaesia and talks a bit about what she is thinking and doing in Ellesmera while Eragon is away on the island to the east. This chapter also sets up the path that leads Arya back to Eragon. Read, review, share ideas, thoughts, and questions, and most of all enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Plans Unfold

[Ellesmera, Alagaesai – The Great Courtyard of the Elves]

During this time, when Eragon was on that island, a huge celebration was being held throughout the land. Each race celebrated in their territories. The elves' celebration was held in the Great Courtyard of Ellesmera. They had just finished putting up a diamond statue of Eragon riding Saphira into Battle to honor his heroic accomplishment and the legacy he left them. The celebration has been going for days without end. However, all the royal officials of Ellesmera, including Queen Arya worked tirelessly to help stabilize the new order for Ellesmera in Alagaesia. Even though it was up to the new Queen Nasuada to keep order, she new that all the leaders throughout Alagaesia had to do there part in keeping there territories together.

Arya stood outside the balcony of her silver palace wearing a white elvish robe and a jewel-embedded silver crown on her head as she saw her people dancing in front of the statue of Eragon riding Saphira. It was late in the afternoon. She watched the excitement happening down there. Part of her wanted to join them in the celebration, but she was tired and had work she needed to attend to. She came back into her quarters and began to wash her face with cold water trying to keep her awake.

Due to her tireless efforts in trying to keep the peace to bring Alagaesia together, she easily lost site of her primary goals. She often thought of Eragon as he left Alagaesia forever. She sat there looking at herself in the mirror as she began to dry her face with a towel that hung from the mirror, covering most of her reflection. She finished drying her face and looked back into the mirror, she looked behind her and thought she saw Eragon, but as she turned around, she saw nobody their. "The sleeplessness is probably doing something to my mind," she said not looking back into the mirror, picking up hairpins and putting them in her hair to begin braiding it as she did.

Firnen, who sat upon the long, flat roof on the right side of the palace could feel her exhaustion and immediately responded to her thoughts. "Your work in this will have its reward in the end," he thought staring at the colorful lights that surrounding Eragon's statue, he heard the sounds of the people talking and laughing as they dance, he stared at the statue of Saphira as he spoke. "Once your work is done, you will have your time to relax, but in the mean time you need to rest yourself for the work you'll have tomorrow.

Arya finished brushing up for the night and began to ready herself for a good night's rest. She knew she wouldn't get much sleep if the celebration continued as loud as it was, but she knew she had to try. She and Firnen had plans once their work was done. They wanted to find where Eragon and Saphira settled and visit them wherever they may be. Firnen began to think again, "How do you think we'd find them?" he shared this thought with Arya as she began to lie down upon her bed. "I thought of that recently," she responded as she began to close her eyes. "I know someone who could possibly help us find them." Firnen twitched his eye wondering what she meant. Nobody was supposed to know where Eragon or Saphira were to keep the eggs and eldunari safe. "Does somebody know where they are," He asked raising his head that was resting upon the silver tiles of the roof. "No," she chuckled to herself, reminding herself that Firnen had just hatched into the world recently. "I know somebody who could tell us where to start." Her knowledge is limited, but she knows how to find mysteries other people would never be able to think about. Firnen rested his head upon the tiles again. He didn't know why, but something in his conscience worried him Saphira and Eragon.

Arya heard his concerned and felt it too, "It's okay, nobody knows where they are, I'm sure Saphira's fine." She responded in comforting tone. She thought again to herself, "I'm sure Eragon's alright too." She said frowning as Firnen shared his concern for Saphira. This gave her the same concern for Eragon. However, she was tired and needed her strength for the morning ahead and drifted into a deep sleep. Firnen felt Arya fall asleep and he began to become tired as well. He quickly took one last look at the Saphira's statue and fell asleep as well.

Before he closed his eyes, in front of the statue were two cloaked figures standing in the courtyard. "Do you have it?" one of the cloaked figures said. The other figure responded reaching out with a hand with black sharp nails and showed him a paper with ink in a complex dialect not native of any in Alagaesia. "Good, we should be going then, shall we?" he said with a wicked smile as he looked upon that message.

He put out one of his dark, tedious finger and covered the word with his nail and he walked out of the courtyard, as he moved along the writing, it began to translate into the common dialect. He snickered to himself at what he read, "So, the boy has found the island of the master's has he," He read along it, "but it appears that he settled upon the Ancient Valley." His grin left his face, for he knew what Eragon could discover if the gnomes found him before the master did." Lesma, he said to the cloaked figure that transformed her appearance from a male elf to a female humanoid serpent. "Tell our lord that Eragon has arrived on Varvadell and that he has settled within the borders of the ancient ruins, we can't let him discover the secrets hidden within the mountains."

"I will take care of the boy myself if I have to" Lesma responded with the voice of a hissing serpent. "Make no mistake," came his voice in a cold, but serious tone, "Eragon has discovered all the ancient secrets of Alagaesia, but he cannot discovered what the master has discovered too or he will become to powerful for any of us." The serpent looked at him sternly, but nodded in response. At this, he dropped the message Lesma gave him in the soil on the edge of the forest they were in as the words began to retranslate back to the dialect it started.


	4. Chapter 4: The Man in the Cloak

*A/N: Okay, this is a very long and complicated chapter. I just want to let everyone know this chapter begins to answer your questions. In this chapter, I put an epic action scene within it to set a new scene for the rest of the story. I hope you all love reading it as much as I loved writing it. Read, Review, Share ideas, thoughts, questions, and more, and most of all enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Man in the Cloak

As Eragon continued down the dark tunnel within the mountain, he began to loose his energy to keep his light going. He'd been walking for a while now and hasn't found any way out of this chasm. "At least I don't have to worry about… whatever that thing was back there." He chuckled to himself trying to lift his spirits as the light he created began to slowly die.

He tried to keep it alive, but his energy was nearly depleted. He began to feel feint as he found what appeared to be torchlight coming through another larger tunnel. He was fortunate to get this far, but he knew that he now had no way of defending himself with his magical abilities. All the energy he had left was keeping him alive and awake.

As he ran through the tunnel he entered the area, where the torchlight was. He found two torches in the tunnel: one on the left of the entrance and one to the right, but he now had a bigger problem. As he looked straight ahead he found a fork with the tunnel. Three smaller tunnels that lead in different directions. "Okay," he said to him, "Now where do I go?"

As soon as he had finished his sentence, he began hearing the pattern of thumping footsteps coming close behind him? Eragon quickly closed his fists, turned around, and tried to swing at however came behind him. The dark cloaked figure caught his grip, twisted his palm, and pinned his arm behind his back. In the torchlight, he realized that the man who he had tried to hit was the dark figure who saved his life in the chasm.

The pain of the man twisting his arm increased as Eragon light out a silent yelp of discomfort. "Quiet, boy." The cloaked figure whispered into his ear. The sound of his voice in his ear reminded him a lot of his father and old mentor's, Brom, except appearing in a younger tone. The cloaked figure loosened his grip on his arm so that Eragon didn't make a noise to loud for anything or anyone within the tunnels to hear.

As Eragon began to calm down, he began to slowly let go of his grip on him. He pushed Eragon slightly forward so that he had his distance if Eragon tried to attack him again. Eragon got up and began to gasp with relief when the man let go. He looked at the man's face, but all he could see in the hood was his mouth and a shaved beard that covered most of the outside of his face. However, the darkness of the tunnel prevented Eragon from being able to see anything above his mouth or nose. However, he could see the torchlight reflecting slightly off the man's darkened eyes, barely showing the rest of his head.

"Who are you?" He asked looking the man toward the reflecting of his eyes. The man walked passed him and for a second didn't respond to his question. As he passed Eragon, he noticed the man was slightly taller than he was. He put his hand on Eragon's right shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"You have to be quiet in these tunnels," whispering quieter now looking directly into the three passages ahead. "I know who and what you are. I have questions for you and I know you have questions for me." He said in Eragon's ear. Eragon glared his eyes at the man, but kept his focus towards the torches in front of him. "I know you're looking for those Dragon Stones and Solestrials of yours," He continued. Eragon was slightly puzzled that he was able to know what the eggs and eldunari were, but used them in different words. Eragon became more curious as he began to recall him using magic in the tunnels. He continued trying to use a more comforting, but still quiet tone, "We have your dragon. Eragon quickly brushed his shoulder and backed up a step to look the man in the eyes. However, he couldn't fully see his eyes still. He glared at him angrily, realizing he was the one who knocked him out and took his possessions and Saphira.

"Wait," Eragon shouted at the man. The man quickly put on figure on his own lips and made it clear he needed to be quiet. He interrupted Eragon, "we'll talk about this later, but we need to move." He hurriedly began to move towards the three passages and grabbed Eragon by his shirt collar. Eragon brushed his arm away again and turned around to face him again. This time the man was facing the torches and he saw more of his face. He looked as if he was in his late twenties, but spoke as if he was in his early forties. He thought to himself. He could finally see the color of his eyes which shown black with the dim torchlight on it. He could see the man had long dark brown hair that almost extended to the end of his neck. Eragon want more answers if he was to go with this man. Either way, he wouldn't trust him until the man willingly gave his eggs, Eldunari, and Saphira back.

"I need to know why you had to take Saphira without confronting us and talking to us first," the man looked at him with serious intent. "And why did you take all the eggs and eldunari." The man puzzled over the words eggs and eldunari, but like Eragon, he figured out the meaning on his own. The man turned more to face Eragon; he knew that Eragon wouldn't go willingly if he didn't give him the answers Eragon wanted. Either way, he and Eragon stood there too long to answer the entire question right away. Both the man and Eragon heard what sounded like the same creatures Eragon encountered in the chasm and the man turned to face the passage as well. There were far off in what sounded like the center passage. The man quickly turned to Eragon and grabbed his leather bracers he wore and began moving towards the right passage.

"Listen," he told Eragon who begrudgingly went along with him, "I'll answer all your questions on the way to the city, but right now we need to move and keep quiet. We've been standing there too long." He said. It wasn't the answer Eragon wanted, but he knew there was little he could do to get the answers right then and there. He reluctantly accepted the truth that whoever this man was is right. The beast he encountered in the chasm would have made a meal out of him if this cloaked man hadn't saved his life.

Either way, Eragon had one question he knew the man might be willing to answer, "What are those things?" He asked as the man continued pulling his leather bracers. As the tunnel got smaller it began breaking in to multiple natural segments that this man weaved through with Eragon. "Whoever this man is," Eragon thought to himself, "he certainly knows his way through the interior of this mountain. The man quietly responded to his answer, "We call them Vemorians, but what they resembled giant venomous spiders." He answered his question as he weaved through the last natural segment of the tunnel. This made sense to Eragon after looking at it when he had his torch, but it still didn't make sense to Eragon why Alagaesia had anything a monstrous as this.

When he thought about his torch, he realized he had forgotten to pick on up back at the fork in the valley, "but then again," he thought to himself, "we would be attracting those creatures in the shadows." Still he preferred that he'd be able to see where he was going and began to wonder how this man could weave through such natural obstacles without hitting or tripping on anything. This couldn't be a coincidence and came to the conclusion that he was probably using magic to see through the caverns. As they finished coming out of the tunnel, a cold wind blew and brought chills across Eragon's spine. It had been cold in the caverns, but this chill in the wind seems unnatural unless we were on the exterior of the mountain. The man let go of Eragon's wrist. Eragon couldn't see where he was going, but could tell he was moving forward. The man mumbled something quietly and a small flame shown on the tip of his finger. As Eragon looked forward he could see in front of them was appeared to be a dead end.

Eragon looked at the top of the wall and realized he couldn't even see the height of which it went to. The man studied the wall, brushing his left hand against it as sand and dust fell from the large rocky boundary.

"Okay," Eragon said loudly, thinking that the natural segments wouldn't allow those creatures to follow them. He continued, shrugging his shoulders, "What do we do now?" the man shushed Eragon without responding to his question and continued to study the walls, this time mumbling words in a dialect he could not understand. Eragon became impatient with this man and wanted to continue to ask his questions. Eragon moved up to him so that he could talk into his ear. "Why do I still have to be silent?" He asked as the man nervously tried to get him to be quiet.

Eragon continued, "In my defense, those creatures are unable to follow us and this might just be the perfect time for you to answer my questions." The man began looking up towards the ceiling. Eragon's impatience prevented him from noticing and continued to speak, "Either way, I'm not going any further until you answer my questions, I've gone with you this far, and it's only for that you-" Eragon heard something snarling in the distance above them and finally recognized the cloaked figure looking up towards the ceiling. The snarl came again in the distance, but came closer. And out of the shadows, Eragon saw one of the creatures ugly heads come of the shadows as it gave a unpleasant screech that rattled the tunnel around them, the echo faded, and moments later, Eragon heard more snarls above them in the distance and saw three, four, seven, twelve of the Vemorians crawling on the wall above them. Eragon froze realizing his careless and utterly foolish mistake.

He turned his head slowly towards the cloaked figure and realized he was gone. Nothing remained of the man but a burning pillar that spontaneously appeared. Eragon didn't have time to wonder how that just appeared like it did and quickly began running back towards the natural segments trying to reach it before they had a chance to get him. The Vemorians followed in pursuit as he ran for cover in one of the segments. He climbed and crawled under the obstacles as they came. As he looked behind him, he realized some of the segments were not small enough to prevent those creatures from following him.

Eragon looked in front of him and realized in front of him that a complex weave of segments prevented him from moving forward. He had not gotten far from the entrance to the segments, as he tried to run out from the dead end, he realized that one of those Vemorians had cornered him. "Trapped like a mouse," he thought to himself, angry with both himself for alerting those things to his presence and with that man who abandoned Eragon to his fate.

Eragon backed into the end as much as he could so the Vemorian pursuing him would have a harder time getting to him.

Just before the insect in front of him could attack him, the creature was swiftly dragged from out of the segment and lifted up towards the ceiling. Eragon could not see where it had gone, but heard someone cutting through what sounded like raw flesh above him. He noticed the creatures on the floor were staring up at the ceiling as well. Once the noise above them stopped. The green slimy carcass of the Vemorian fell to the ground near the back of the wall and that it was sliced in him with of its legs missing. The remaining Vemorians looked back up snarling with fury as the cloaked figure landed in front of him. He noticed he was holding a sword in his right hand.

As he looked closer at the weapon, he realized that it was slowly shrinking into a smaller blade. As the shrinking ceased, it became nothing more that a mere dagger. He was flabbergasted as he witnessed such an item magically transform into a different weapon, but wondered how this man was going to kill such vicious creatures with such a small blade.

Suddenly, one of the Vemorians growled as the remaining eleven joined in unison. One of the Vemorians pounced at the cloaked figure, but he quickly ducked and rolled underneath the Vemorian making it miss its mark, once the man was directly underneath him, the dagger grew back into a claymore as it slice the creature in half. As it did, some of the slime within the beast's entries fell onto Eragon as he stood there in the corner of the segment. The expression on his face went from awe to discomfort. He closed his eyes before the goop would blind his vision. He spit out some of the slime that had entered in his mouth and showed a grimace on his face from the taste of the disgusting slime.

He looked back at the man as he swiftly cut all the Vemorians down to size, as he magically extended and descended the length of his sword as he swiftly sliced them if half. Eragon had seen some of the greatest swordsmen in all of Alagaesia in action as they defeat their enemies, but he had never seen or imagined anything as he witnessed now. He watched as the swarms around him pounced trying to take their prey. He saw one jump behind him. The man swung the sword behind his back as two more Vemorians jumped from his sized. He quickly flipped backwards as the two creatures accidentaly jumped into his blade as it naturally went flipped in response to this.

Once he regained his balance, three more came at him one at a time. He jumped in the hand and landed his sword on the ground, impaling the Vemorian in the head as it landed on the ground. As the second Vemorian jumped to catch him in the air, the blade transformed back into a dagger and this caused the man to come down in response. The Vemorian instead hit another Vemorian across the way injuring both of them at once. As the third jumped, the man used the ducked and rolled again using the dagger to cut the belly of the beast without directly cutting it in half.

The remaining five Vemorians stood directly in front of him, keeping their distance, but not backing down. He waited for them to make their move. When they didn't, he quickly came at the one closer to him. He extended him arm with the dagger and made it appear as if he was going to cut it down, but before he swung he flipped over the creature, pointed the dagger at the creatures head and the dagger transformed once again into a sword, impaling the creature until it hit the floor. The remaining Vemorians quickly jumped realized he let himself open to an attack.

Realizing this, the man quickly responded with the words used in the ancient language, "Brisingr!" He yelled the four remaining Vemorians jumped towards him all together trying to catch him. However, once blue flame began to surround the blade as it stuck in the ground, a huge explosion surged through the cavern. Eragon covered his head in response moving to one side and ducking for cover as the fire expanded through the segment. Eragon rose to find the man standing upon a hot crater with edges that glowed a bright, fiery orange hot magma. He stood back up and turned to find Eragon sitting there in pure awe. Eragon thought he had misheard his words, but he made no mistake as the fire stormed through the tunnel. He was speechless after the fight was over. The man brushed off a hint of green slime from the left shoulder spike on his cloak, he stood there not wanting Eragon to witnessed him using spells such as that quite yet. His carelessness to let those creatures exploit a weakness in his defenses showed Eragon more of who he truly was.

"I hope he has another theory in that head of his before he finds out what I am," he thought.

Another voice came into his mind, "Either way, he was bound to find out sometime. Bring him to Marudell and we'll reveal everything he wants to know." The man stood their still gasping for breath. "Agreed," he said as Eragon began to stand up again.

"I'll tell you where to find us when we arrive at the gate." he made himself look as if these thoughts weren't coming through his head so Eragon would feel less suspicious of him.

The voice came one more time, "Good luck, Qrayven. I'll find you when you need me to." The voice faded from his mind. Eragon began to approach him slowly and looked into his cowl that covered his head.

Still gasping for breath, he decided now was a safe time for Eragon to know, "So," he said still exhausted from his limitation as he forced himself to use the word, "Do you want me to answer your questions now?"


	5. Chapter 5: Unanswered Questions

5

* A/N: Okay, before I talk about this chapter, I wanted to make a couple things clear about what this story is all about and I'll continue to make these things known in other chapters as well in case anybody misses this. I am going to create many books or stories within the inheritance Cycle Reborn series. Right now, I have five planed for the future. This particular story is going to open up the new saga of the Inheritance Cycle. I am trying to open up this story by creating new mysteries and new questions that will be answered later in this book. We will see old characters in this story, but I want to focus more on Eragon as he continues to explore this strange island. Also, nobody is supposed to know exactly where he is (except for those who are familiar with the island, i.e. the shade and shape-shifting serpent-humanoid lady who were plotting in Ellesmera. Either way, some people like Angela and Arya have a good idea to where he could be, but they're going to have to do a little searching before they know where Eragon and Saphira are for sure. Anyways, I'm sorry this particular chapter took a long time to write. I had to write a couple different chapters and experiment with what I thought would fit best. Anyways, here it finally is. Read, review, share ideas, thoughts, and question, and most of all enjoy!

Chapter 5: Unanswered Questions

Eragon stood there without moving an inch as he studied the man who had annihilated those vermin creatures by using such a powerful Ancient as Brisingr itself. Eragon studied him trying to piece together what had happened. This man cut those Vemorians in such an exotically masterful way that he had never even witnessed in his dreams.

Eragon finally broke the long period motionless silence, "Well you cannot be a shade or a witch," he finally decided, making his conclusion to him as he thought aloud, "as you don't carry the look of one or wear the traditional robes of one." The man looked back at Eragon as he made this known to him. He didn't want to use his magical abilities in front of Eragon because he was told not to reveal the true nature of who and what he was, but here he saw Eragon in the light of the bowl of fire that was molded onto the pillar behind him as he stood amass the fiery, hot crater on the floor beneath him. Eragon studied the man finally concluding the truth he spoke, as the man did not try to correct him or tell him he was wrong. He could see that the man in front of him was trying to search his mind for a way to distract Eragon as he came closer and closer to discovering the truth. The man's sword receded into its dagger form in his hand as he dragon to sheath it back on a belt that was concealed by the cloak he wore, which he slowly lifted the cowl revealing his long dark brown hair in the fiery light of the flaming pillar

"My name is Qrayven," he said as he finished putting the blade away, "you are correct in saying that I am neither shade nor witch, but I will not tell you yet what I am." Eragon folded in arms as he spoke. The man continued to study the wall again as he pushed another switch in the wall that triggered more of the flaming pillars to ascend to the surface as the noise of the cobblestone grinding against the floor turned his attention to the ground as stony tiles slid aside revealing the fiery light as they made their ascent. Eragon looked to the man again as he spoke.

"I think you owe me an explanation," he said still folding his arms as he spoke. "You haven't answered any of my questions, except for telling me what a Vemorian is, you save my life from one of them, and all of this after you knock me and my dragon Saphira out." Qrayven turned to face him as he mentioned the word 'dragon' to him. Qrayven knew that Eragon would not go with him willingly anymore until these questions were answered. He knew he was not allowed to answer any question that would give away his true identity, but maybe he could answer any other question that would regard something other than that. "It might even make him less suspicious of me," he thought to himself as he put his hand in a dusty hole in the wall that filled with decaying spider webs as he pulled a stone from the socket it, which propped itself back inside it as he let go.

A stone block to the left of them, began to rotate to out towards them, revealing a hidden passage within two torches burning bright along the inside of the passage as you entered. Eragon heard a noise sounded like the pillars grinding against the stony floor as they made their ascent realizing that the tunnel grew darker and darker as it continued. He looked at where the pillar had been realizing that the tiles beneath him began to close up again with the pillar back inside their stony casket. The only light that remained in the cavern was the light of the two torches burning within the new tunnel that opened to him. Still, Eragon was determined to get the answers he wanted out of Qrayven standing his ground firmly showing Qrayven he would not move until he gave him a reason to do so. Qrayven could see in his eyes that this time there was nothing he could do to get him to willingly enter the passage below.

He stood there for a moment and soon began to speak, "I'll answer your questions until I deem that it is no longer safe to stay here any longer. Eragon still had his arms folded as he said this, accepting his deal for the moment.

"First, I want to know what you have done with Saphira, those dragon eggs, and Eldunari… or whatever you called them earlier." The man looked at him, but he knew he couldn't answer the full extent of the question in the shadow of the tunnel. However, reluctantly, he decided he would answer what he could to get Eragon to move again.

"You mean the dragon stones and Solestrials?" he asked trying to share what he thought was the correct turn for them. Eragon nodded a little agitated that he had to ask this before he could answer his question. Qrayven continued, "We received news of your arrival in the Ancient Valley about three days ago. I took three Gnomes to and watched you closely. When we saw that you had those possessions hidden in that hollow hole in the tree, we searched the canyon for other places as well. We searched the entire valley for more of them and found about twenty eggs and Eldunari in the cave you came in," Eragon remembered searching the cave to find it empty." However, Qrayven still had not answered his question.

"That makes sensed, but where did you hid them?" He responded, seeing the hesitance in Qrayven's eyes as he said this, revealing to Eragon that he was still trying to avoid the question. Either way, Qrayven decided he wouldn't answer this question for the sake of keeping the secret from the shadow of this damp, dark cavern. However, he knew how to respond to get Eragon to follow either way. "I'll show you when we get there," he said turning to walk towards the entrance to the hidden passage. This infuriated Eragon seeing that the man had not truly meant to answer anything.

"I won't come with you if you don't tell me where you put them and Saphira!" He yelled to him more persistent to receive him answer. Qrayven only turned to him seeing the growing determination that he expressed to him. Either way, Qrayven wasn't going to tell him yet and thought it would be better to show him first.

"Fine," he said as he came to the entrance to the hidden passage. "But I know you'll come with me anyways." He looked at him. Eragon thought he was joking, but when he looked upon his face, he saw that he was more serious than he ever was so far. Eragon struggled to see why he would follow.

"Why, are you going to make me follow by force?" He said seeing as it was the only way possible in his mind that he would come. As he came to this conclusion, he began ready himself mentally if Qrayven was to do so, but he saw that Qrayven was still calm not trying to pursue Eragon by force in any matter. This confused Eragon wondering if Qrayven was playing a trick on his mind.

"No," Qrayven said assured he wouldn't have to. Eragon was confused, but remained ready if Qrayven was to try and take him anyways. "You may be reluctant to do so, but you're going to come willingly." Eragon felt a strange combination of anger and confusion thinking that Qrayven had gone completely insane.

"You've been in the darkness of these caves for too long," he said still firmly planted in the stony floor beneath him. Eragon looked in his eyes, but saw no reason he would have gone so quickly without a notable and probable cause for him to do so at such a time as this. Eragon thought this man was an idiot to think he would ever follow him without knowing where he was exactly being taken, "Why do you think I would follow you willingly when you haven't even answered my question?" Qrayven got him right where he wanted Eragon.

"Because," he continued quickly already having finished analyzing the results in his mind, "If you don't come, you won't find your dragon anywhere else." Qrayven could have said the stones or Solestrials, believing Eragon would come anyways, but saw it more probable he'd come if he mentioned his precious dragon. Eragon heard this as raging anger surged through his body. He fell right into his game without realizing it. He thought that he so foolish to not see this coming earlier, but he knew it would take a while for him analyzing this in his mind. Eragon still tried stubbornly to stand his ground, but eventually gave into his demands. Eragon began to follow Qrayven into the passage seeing that it was a large staircase leading deeper into the dark chasm below. He looked back at Qrayven as he pulled one of the torches from its resting place as the stone behind them rotate back, hiding the passage again.

"There is no turning back now," Eragon thought aloud to himself keeping his distance from Qrayven as they began to walk back down the hard and damp steps leading into the darkness below. "I need to find a way to get him to answer my question, even if I have to use force." Eragon thought to himself as he began searching the area for any stone or pole that he could use as a weapon. Eragon stood behind him hoping, he'd find something and be able to surprise the cloaked man as the pass by it. After a long and steep walk down into the chasm, the stairs finally opened into a tunnel that Eragon saw was not built naturally through the mountain, but saw by the notched marks and designs of the tunnel that it was built by something or someone else. As Eragon studied the end of the tunnel he could see that it opened up into another chasm much like the crevice that he entered from. As he looked up, he realized that this was indeed the entrance to the crevice of which he previously saw as he saw the edges of the cliffs and bridges along the ceiling above.

He quickly noticed the torch he had used to scare that Vemorian that almost had him for lunch in a pile of dirt and rubble off to the side of the chasm. The torch was burnt out now, but he saw that some of the ashes still burned on the tip of the torch as it slowly continued to die out. "Brisingr is somewhere in this tunnel." He thought to himself, but as the chasm went on he could not see his old sword anywhere on the ground on the chasm. However, as Qrayven moved along with the torch still in his hand, Eragon saw close above him the torch light reflecting off a stainless steel object that stood dangling off the edge of a natural stone obelisk that stood straight up in the distance. "There it is!" Eragon thought with joy that he had found his old blade again, but realized that he would not be able to reach for it up there unless he had something to stand on to boost him high up. He realized as he looked upon the sword that it was close to toppling over as it dangled back and forth off the edge of the obelisk's surface.

Eragon quickly began running towards the obelisk, ramming his shoulder into the pillar, as the collision made his old sword fall to the ground. He quickly caught it and looked to see Qrayven turn around to face him with the torch still in his hand. "Okay," Eragon shouted as he pointed the tip of his sword at Qrayven. "Now, you answer my questions or I'll have to get them out of you by force." Eragon quickly began to rethink his decision as he began remembering the sight he saw as Qrayven recently battled the twelve Vemorians. However, he realized he had acted before he thought about this and couldn't take his decision, but Eragon still stood firm with his sword pointed in Qrayven's direction as he griped Brisingr tightly with both hand hands.

"Boy, you put the sword down before somebody gets hurt," He said raising his hands to try to get Eragon to calm down as he gripped his sword firmly. However, Eragon stubbornly kept the sword in his grip as he realized the consequences of his decision to threatened such a master swordsman as Qrayven, but stood firm keeping his distance, but not yielding to Qrayven's command.

"I'm not going anywhere until you answer my question!" Eragon shouted fiercely now gripping his sword tighter as he straightened his arms keeping the tip of his sword firmly in Qrayven's direction. Qrayven realized he could not negotiate with this boy anymore as he held the blade pointed at him. He threw the torch to the side as he slowly began walking towards Eragon. Eragon noticed Qrayven raise his hands as if he was yielding to Eragon's whim. Eragon knew that he was trying to trick him into making the first strike. However, Eragon knew as a master swordsman himself that you should never try to strike the first blow when an enemy wants you to.

"Come at me," Qrayven said in a quieter, but intimidating tone still raising his hands at level with his head. Eragon began stepping backwards as Qrayven slowly paced closer and closer to Eragon, still holding Brisingr firmly in his hand. "Why don't you come?" He asked seeing Eragon slowly began to pace backwards as he came forwards.

Eragon responded to him, "Nice try, but I know as well as you do never to relent to your foe even if he wants you to attack." Eragon tried harder to stand his ground as Qrayven continued to pace towards him with his hands still in the air. "What could I possibly do to you?" He asked Eragon as he continued moving towards him. Eragon wondered himself how Qrayven could even make an offensive move as he saw the position had Qrayven put himself into. Qrayven continued, "I'm unarmed, I'm raised my arms in the air, and haven't drawn my sword from my belt, even though I could do so at any time. Eragon knew in his heart that it was a trick, but in his mind that if he swung at him right now before he drew his blade, he could easily overthrow him. He realized that he couldn't defeat him if he had his sword and that this was probably the only chance he would ever get where he could possibly defeat him.

Eragon mustered up his courage and began to cry out as he rushed towards Qrayven taking the first swung. However, Qrayven quickly dove to the side, making Eragon miss his swing and leaving him unbalanced as his sword scrapped the floor. Qrayven then continued to pin Eragon's left arm to his back. As he did this, Brisingr flew out of his hand and slid into the exit of the chasm ahead. Qrayven then twisted Eragon's hand without breaking it, but managing to flip Eragon to the floor. Eragon landed flat on his back, which stung with pain as he fell. Before he could get up. Qrayven knelt before him and began to try and pin both of Eragon's hands to the floor before he could recover. Eragon attempted to defend himself from the attack before Qrayven could do this, but knew his attempt was in vein as he tried. Once Qrayven subdued Eragon, the boy finally managed to calm down as he did.

"Your own part brave," Qrayven said still holding Eragon to the cold stone floor, "but you're also three parts a fool." Eragon had heard only heard Brom use this saying before. Could it be possible that there could be a relationship between them both? Before he could think to himself, Eragon noticed that behind Qrayven the same Vemorian who had almost bested Eragon in the chasm snuck behind Qrayven who was unaware of its presence. The Vemorian quickly swung its left legs to him Qrayven, throwing him back towards the entrance of the cavern right next to Brisingr. Eragon could see that he had taken a blow to the head as he had landed, which knocked him out as he lay there against the exit to the chasm. Eragon quickly turned to face the Vemorian in front of him, seeing that it had focused his attention to Eragon. For some reason, he thought this same Vemorian looked a lot bigger than the one's Qrayven killed before. He felt a little foolish that he hadn't realized this earlier, but he had no time to think about that. He had no weapon again, and nobody to save his life again.

"Garzla letta!" Eragon shouted as the creature began to loose his sight. All the light left the creatures as and it began to squeal in fear as it began ramming into the walls left to right. As it did this, Eragon noticed that the chasm ceiling was beginning to collapse above them as the Vemorian continued to hit the sides of the tunnel. Eragon quickly turned and ran as he stood up from the ground and ran towards the end of the tunnel. As he did this, the spell began to fade as light began returning to the Vemorian's eyes. Since those things needed very little light to see, it recovered very quickly and looked around seeing Eragon run to the entrance ahead. He quickly followed in pursuit as the ceiling began to completely collapse on top of them.

"I better hurry!" Eragon thought to himself as he quickly ran towards the entrance. Before he exited he grabbed the shoulder spikes of Qrayven's dark cloak and dragged his unconscious body into the corridor so quickly, before the rocks above fell on their heads and crushed them to death. As he did this he quickly picked Brisingr up as well which was already partly within the exit to the chasm. Just as he got him and Qrayven in, the Vemorian tried to squeeze its large, hideous body into the cavern to try and catch Eragon and Qrayven before they escaped, but before it could, the ceiling finally collapsed on top of it, blocking the entrance to the cavern and crushing the Vemorian in front of him. He the Vemorians front legs sticking out of the rocks and saw the lifeless, motionless hairs that stuck up from them on the ground.

Eragon leaned against the wall taking a huge sigh of relief as he slid against it and sat upon the ground. He turned to the path ahead noticed torchlight that shining from a path the turned to the right. He quickly looked toward Qrayven and noticed his head twitch and then stop, realizing he would gain his consciousness any minute, he quickly took up his sword and used it to cut the golden chain that kept it upon his back revealing his blade sheathed upon his belt. He unequipped him of the belt and threw it to the side as he tore some of the fabric of his cloak, which looked a very bright red color of the inside. He then turned Qrayven over so that he was lying on his stomach. He put his arms behind his back and began to tie the torn fabric to bind his hands before he regained his consciousness. As he took a closer look as his right hand he saw a strange mark upon it that looked like some sort of scar or burn. He continued to bind his hands, but quickly looked back and forth at the mark upon his hand. When he finished binding his hands behind his back, he dragged him closer to the torchlight and as the light grew brighter, he quickly realized that on his hand was the mark of a dragon rider!


	6. Chapter 6: The Gate, Gnomes, and Council

* A/N: So from the previous chapter, we find out that Qrayven is a dragon rider by the mark Eragon finds upon his hand. I made this chapter very, very long and maybe a little way too long, but I wanted to answer more of the questions that I've been unable to answer in the chapters so far. We learn more about Qrayven and how he survived the fall, and we're going to find many new characters in this chapter. The reason for new characters is because we're going to find out the place Eragon is going to spend most of his time living in. We also introduced the Council of Five, which I think I already talked a little bit about in the overview on Ch. 1 or in an A/N. Anyways, I'm hoping I can finally be able to actually start answering these questions and many more in the next chapter. This chapter (more like 2 or even 3 chapters long) took me most of yesterday typing and 2 hours or so today editing it. Read, review, share ideas, thoughts, and question, and most of all enjoy!

Chapter 6: The Gate, Gnomes, and Council of Five

Qrayven awoke as he leaned against the back of a pillar, quickly realizing his arms were tied behind him and around the pillar itself. He struggled to try and loosen the grip, but was unable as it was tightly put around him. He realized that the cloak he wore was gone as he searched for his belt that contained his sword as he found that was also missing. He looked around the area and recognized the place he was in.

He saw amass of tangled vines and roots that stuck out of the stony ceiling through cracks and holes in the roof. The ceiling was more of dirt than rock now as a drop of water crawled along the edges of a root that hovered directly over him as the droplet fell upon his cheek, making Qrayven quickly close his eyes before another droplet fell into one of them. He found that upon his hair was a small mound of droplets that just barely penetrating the surface as it protected his scalp from letting the droplets enter in.

He could see that he just recently tied up there as another droplet began to fall upon him. He tried to ignore the distraction of droplets that continued to drop one by one upon his head in a very rhythmic tap, tap, tap. These are one of the things that would drive you insane if you were kept there for over a day with nothing else to do. As he continued to study the area he saw a hidden path to the left that led to the entrance to the city gate. This was where he was bringing Eragon.

"Eragon," he mumbled to himself, realizing that it was Eragon who had probably tied him up. He began to try and find looseness in his bonds that kept him firmly in place. Suddenly, he heard his voice coming from another path that exited to the right.

"You better begin to answer my questions if you want me to cut you loose," came a voice to his left. Qrayven was startled as he turned to see Eragon leaning against the wall of this small stony room within the caverns, his arms folded noticing Eragon had both Brisingr and Qrayven's own blade, both sheathed on their own side upon his belt. Qrayven knew he was in no position to bargain with Eragon anymore. Only this time, Eragon held the position of dominance over Qrayven.

"Boy," he spoke still trying to wiggle his bonds loose, "cut me free now. We have to keep moving." Eragon heard him say this, but no sign of worry came to his face. He'd be quick as he intended previously, but determined for him to answer his questions. Eragon slowly walked towards Qrayven, squaring in front of him so they could meet at eye level. Eragon wanted Qrayven to know he was playing anymore of Qrayven's games. Eragon was more determined than ever after finding out Qrayven is a dragonrider and hearing him use Brom's old "part-brave, part- fool" expression.

"First, let me ask you," Eragon said staring directly into Qrayven's eyes, whom showed little intimidation as Eragon spoke, "why didn't you tell me you were a dragon rider." As he said this, the look in Qrayven's eye went straight from slightly intimidated to completely found out. He gave a deep sigh after a moment of thinking, "I cannot answer that question." He said as Eragon's intimidating grin disappeared into a deep frown. Eragon quickly drew Qrayven's dagger and put the tip of the blade point at his neck. Eragon gnashed his in complete fury when Qrayven still wouldn't answer them.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION NOW, QRAYVEN!" he shouted from the top of his lungs, trying to intimidate Qrayven further as he brought the dagger closer and closer to the skin of his neck. Qrayven didn't flinch, but closed his eyes as the exhaling from Eragon's voice blew into his eyes, stinging them slightly. Eragon continued his shouting, "OR I'LL SEVERE YOUR HEAD FROM THE REST OF YOUR BODY!" Qrayven looked at Eragon feeling guilty even though he knew he wasn't allowed to answer all the questions he wanted... yet.

"Do you think this is a matter of me not wanting to answer your question?" He asked Eragon in a calm tone that have no sign that he intimidated by Eragon anymore. His responded made him loosen his grip on the blade, but Eragon quickly gripped the blade tighter to Qrayven's neck. "I think that exactly!" He said as he began to grab Qrayven's tunic, hoisting him an up slightly as he kept the dagger firmly upon his neck. Qrayven still wasn't intimidated, but being hoisted from his seat upon the floor made his grimace with discomfort. "Why is it that mentioning him being a dragonrider suddenly made him loose his fear of me?" He thought angrily in his mind.

"Think about my situation that would make you or anyone believe I could escape without answering your question," he said calmly to Eragon as he continued to hold him by his tunic's collar seeing that Qrayven might have a good point. He let go of his shirt, letting him fall back to the floor. Eragon turned his back to Qrayven pacing as he thought himself.

"Eragon," Qrayven continues in a more comforting tone. "It wasn't my decision not to tell you I was a dragon rider, and I'm sorry for not being able to tell you earlier," Eragon began to calm down as the man continued to speak, "but I can bring you to the one who has her reason for keeping this from you." Eragon turned back to face Qrayven. This all made sense in his mind as he knelt on front of Qrayven again. "You have to swear to me in the ancient tongue that you will hand over Saphira, the eggs, the Eldunari and you will answer my questions later." The man looked hard at Eragon as he said this.

"You might find that the eggs are safer beneath the ground than it is over it." Eragon looked towards Qrayven as he spoke, "and I'll show you too. We're almost to our final destination. Untie me and we'll continue on." He said struggling again to try ad loosen his bonds. Eragon decided once again to give in to his demands. Eragon stared at the dagger in his hand wondering if it would be wise to cut him loose. He would never get the chance again to hold dominion over him. However, Eragon knew his mission was to protect the eggs and Eldunari he brought with him, and would give anything to get Saphira back. Eragon cut the strands of Qrayven's old tunic that he used to bind him down. Qrayven rubbed his wrists once his hands were freed.

"I can answer any other questions you might have on the way," Qrayven said as Eragon gave him his belt and dagger back. "This way," he continued as he moved to a path concealed my tangled roots and rocks that hung from the ceiling. He cut a few of them when they got in his way. Eragon could not see the path ahead, but he was reminded from back at the natural segments that Qrayven could see in the dark or at least see well enough.

"I'm curious to ask you how you survived the fall," Eragon asked not quite being able to see him as he cut the vines. To Eragon's surprise, all he received was a puzzled question back from Qrayven.

"What do you speak of?" Eragon could hear from the sudden pause of silence that Qrayven had stopped hacking at the roots and had stopped in his tracks, probably look back at him. Eragon was shocked to hear this man had not heard of the fall.

"Well, isn't that why you came here?" Eragon asked thinking he came here to take refuge from the coming slaughter that the Forsworn would eventually cause throughout Alagaesia. Eragon received no response in return, so Eragon continued to try and explain his question thinking Qrayven might have forgotten this event like he did the land of Alagaesia from before, "Didn't you take shelter here before the Forsworn could kill you I presume?" Qrayven still stood there wondering why Eragon was asking something of him he had no knowledge of whatsoever.

"What do you mean 'the fall'," Qrayven asked curious to know more since it had to do more with his old homeland of Alagaesia, Qrayven continued, "and who are the Forsworn?" Eragon marveled at this mysterious rider as he realized Qrayven truly didn't know who any of these topics were. Qrayven continued to move down the hall, but Eragon could tell he still kept his curious mind on Eragon as he responded again.

"How long have you been here?" This wasn't the response Qrayven had expected, but as he thought about this, he realized that these events Eragon spoke of were ones he had never witnessed for Qrayven knew he had been on this island longer than Eragon would ever anticipate.

"I don't even remember how long I have been here," he responded now wanting to answer Eragon's question as he quickened his pace slashing and cutting as he went through the area. ", but I remember the last time I kept the count of the years as the seasons went by that I had been here for over two centuries." Eragon gasped by this. He looked so young to Eragon, yet he had been living on this island for over two hundred years. He was a dragon rider he knew. However, even Oromis, who had lived about as long as Qrayven did, aged as time went on for him as it has been for Qrayven.

"However, if I had to guess," Qrayven continued as he passed through the last mound of vines and tangled roots that covered the walkway of the path revealing at the end of the path a large chasm, much larger than that Eragon had ever seen. "I would have to say I've been living here for about three to three and a half centuries within this chasm." Eragon was dumbstruck. Now Qrayven was telling him he was much older than Oromis himself. However, Eragon realized something that interested him much more than Qrayven's age.

"Wait a minute," Eragon spoke with a tone trying to tell Qrayven to slow down, "If you survived the fall and had never even been apart of it or heard it before, where is your dragon?" He listened intently as Qrayven came up to a large gate that looked to Eragon to be made of metal. Qrayven came up to a small slat in near the bottom of the center of the gate. "I'm guessing you haven't seen another dragon before besides your own have you?" He stood at the footstone of the gate turning to face Eragon as he asked.

"I've seen only four in my lifetime," He responded as he looked down in shame as he thought of Galbatorix's black dragon, Shruikan, "three of whom today are still breathing along with their riders."

Qrayven became more curious about 'the fall' Eragon had spoke of earlier. Even though Qrayven had never heard of this, he knew who would. "I have more questions for you and I'm sure you have more questions for me as well," Qrayven turned to the gate and knocked three times above the slat in the gate. Eragon saw below that something small, even smaller than a dwarf had moved the slat aside to see who was knocking at the entrance? He saw two green eyes peaking through the slats as whoever they belonged to began to spoke in a high-pitched voice that Eragon thought was quite humorous, especially for a creature so small as this one. He looked up from the slat trying to see Qrayven's face. "Who be's the really tall one standin in front of the gate."

Eragon thought the weird accent he used made his voice even more humorous as he chuckled to himself. The little creature looked passed Qrayven to see Eragon standing far behind the gate. The creature quickly closed the slat after seeing the stranger in the distance and not being able to see Qrayven's face, as he stood tall upon the ground. The gnome was unable to see Qrayven even as he tried looking through it at a different angle. Qrayven signaled for Eragon to come closer to the gate, but made it clear he didn't want him to make a sound.

"Sowwy," the voice said, "uh, nobody home at the moment, but I would suggest you go back to whatever cave you hail, faw away from hea' thank you." Eragon ran up to the gate as he and Qrayven heard the small creature bickering behind the huge metal gate with what sounded like two other creatures. He wondered why Qrayven wasn't trying to get the gnomes to let them in, but he saw Qrayven laughing to himself as the bickering proceeded. "These creatures are called Gnomes," he whispered to Eragon so that he could hear the humorous bickering, "they sure aren't the smartest creatures, but they sure are the most… 'Interesting' creatures I've encountered yet." Eragon listened harder to the voices as they were in the middle of an argument amongst themselves, "Well I few one ain't gonna let a couple a' stangews into the city without a uh… passpowt or something like that," He heard the voice of the man who he saw looking out the gate. "We can't just leave 'em out there, they'll starve." Came another voice that sounded much similar to the first.

Behind the gate, the gate gnome had smacked the second across the face in response, "use yer head ya' nitwit," came the voice of the first gnome, "food is the least of their worries in the deep places a' Vawvadell." Both Qrayven and Eragon laughed at the sounds they heard on the other side of the gate. Eragon heard the word Vawvadell wondering whether he this was the name for the underground chasms or the island itself. He knew the creature meant to say something like Varvadell. He never heard the word before, but the accent made it very clear the accent mixed up letters like w's and r's when speaking.

"Well… wud if we tricked these stranga's into doin some of our chores fer us. They look like hard workin' giants ta' me." Came a third voice very similar to the first and second gnomes voices, still sounding slightly different on its own. Eragon and Qrayven laughed a little harder at the humorous bickering as the gnomes could hear them from the other side of the gate. The slat opened again and Eragon could see the first gnome again. "You laughin' at us stranger?" the gnome said trying to sound tough as he said it. Trying to glare at both of them at once, but still only being able to see Eragon's face. Eragon knelt to meet the gnome at eye level as another gnome tried to peak out as well.

"Yeah," came the second gnomes voice in agreement with the first gnome, "ya' laughin' at us stranga." The first gnome saw the second next to him, raising a fist in the air as he bonked the second gnome on the head as if he was the stupidest one among them. "Shut up, ye' nimrod," The first gnome said to the second still using his humorous tone of voice, "if you had half the brains we has, you'd be workin' at the gate, but yer' not… I am. So quit peakin' out the slat and go stand in the cornew over thea'" he said pointing to an area Eragon could not see. The gnomes began to continue their humorous bickering as the third tried to defend to second as they began. Qrayven finally knelt to see into the slat still laughing along with Eragon as they continued.

"Okay, I think you've had enough bickering for one day." The gnomes turned to face him. "Hey," came the voice of the second gnome as he began walking up to the slat, "It's our ol' pal Qrayvey." The first gnome pulled the second back again as he bonked him on the head and jabbed him slightly on the forehead as well.

"Shut up," he said to the second gnome, "and let a pwofessional speaka' do the talking." Eragon thought it was ironic that the gnome with the worst accent of the common dialect he had ever heard, even amongst the three, thought he spoke better than the other two. "You aren't the brightest bunch of creatures I ever saw." Eragon said thinking about the cute little nickname the gnomes gave Qrayven. "And did the fat gnome call you Qrayvey," Eragon chuckled as Qrayven tried to change the embarrassed expression upon his face. Eragon liked the little nickname the second gnome gave him. The first gnome came up to the slat angry that Eragon had insulted his intelligence.

"Who aw you callin' stupid, stupid," Eragon looked at the gnome. He would have been insulted if his accent wasn't as humourous as it is. Eragon thought he would play a little bit more with this one to try and here more of his humorous voice. "Well, I wouldn't expect someone with your size to be intelligent." The gnome quickly closed the slat. Eragon stood up wondering where he had and quickly heard a bunch of metal clanks and clicks as the gnome began trying to unlock the door. It took the gnome almost half a minute before he had opened a small door, which to the gnome was really tall. He saw the fat gnome, which he labeled as the second and the third trying to hold the first gnome back from attacking Eragon. Eragon thought the gnome would give a great massage if he tried to punch any part of his body. They definitely weren't very strong and it showed in their size.

Qrayven quickly separated the three gnomes trying to get them to cooperate. "Okay guys, stop the bickering we have more important things to worry about," He said holding the last two gnomes in his left hand and the first in his right. "We need to speak with Gaerjo, we have much to inform this newcomer here." He slowly let all three gnomes back onto their feet; the first gnome folded his stubby arms.

"Ah, a newcomew' eh," He said looking back at the gnomes behind him, "I bet I cud beat him in a fight." He said trying to impress the other two, who nodded in agreement. Eragon was slightly insulted by the arrogance of the first gnome. "Okay then," Eragon said as he drew Brisingr from his belt, as soon as he drew his blade, the first gnome screamed in fright and quickly hid behind the second gnome whose size was able to provide better cover than the third. "Don't huwt me, I saw just foolin' awound is all," He slowly looked over the shoulder of the second making his point clear to them, but seeing humor in the cowardice of the first gnome. He chuckled to himself. As soon as Eragon put away Brisingr, the first gnome came back out from behind the fat gnome.

"Kay," he spoke taking his attention back to Qrayven, "ya' wanna to see the boss, it's gonna cost ya'." Qrayven looked at the gnomes and thought their humor was worth a little something. Eragon was curious to wonder what currency the gnomes used under the caves.

"They probably trade using smooth pebbles and shiny rocks." He thought to himself. The first gnome continued to speak as he thought amongst himself.

"I'm not askin' much, but how 'bout eleven or twelve wuby stones." Eragon thought this was an outrageous price to ask for rubies and say it's not much. He looked back at Qrayven and saw him pull out a pouch from his belt. Qrayven unwrapped a thin string that kept the pouch closed tight and as Eragon looked inside saw a pile of precious gems and rare stones within the pouch. He looked at them wide eyes seeing bright rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and emeralds wondering where he was able to get such stones. Something was strange about these stones as Eragon saw them glowing brighter than the light of a burning torch. He quickly took twelve rubies from the pouch and handed them to the first gnome. "Thanks, Qwavey," he continued as he was handed the bright red gems.

"Hey," came the voice of the third gnome who finally spoke as he jealously looked to the Qrayven. "How 'bout us, your old pals me and ol' Stiggy over hea.'" He said as Qrayven was putting away his pouch. Qrayven rolled his eyes as he pulled out twenty-four more rubies from the pouch and handed twelve to each of the gnomes. Qrayven looked at the gnomes with serious eyes.

"You better not spend all of that on ale, you hear me!" He said as the three walked back into the gate. They looked at him with a confident, but idiotic face.

"Have we eva' let ya' down, Qrayvey?" They asked trying to dodge promising Qrayven they wouldn't spend the rubies on alcohol as they began to leave their post by the gate. Qrayven didn't respond, but Eragon could see that was exactly why he was reluctant to give them the precious gems.

"Where did you get all of that?" He said excited to try and get some souvenirs for himself. Qrayven began ducking under the gate so he would be able to fit. Eragon did as he did, ducking under the gate in response. As he stood up he hit his head upon the ceiling realizing that the tunnel was much smaller than he anticipated. The gate was really large compared to the tunnel. Qrayven quickly locked the gate with the various locks and keys as the gnomes left forgetting to do it themselves.

"You're about to see much more than what I have once we entered the city ahead. Eragon looked ahead and saw a small staircase that led up into what appeared to be a waterfall covering the entrance. Eragon was hopeful to find himself some of these treasures and took to the entrance as Qrayven finish closing up the last few locks. As Eragon passed the water fall a blur of sunlight shown into his eyes, stinging them from the sensitivity he received from being stuck in dark caves for long. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked to see a massive canyon that appeared four times wider, longer, and larger than the valley he had settled in with Saphira.

He marveled at what appeared deep beneath the waterfall as a large city made of cobblestones and gems appeared beneath him with buildings twice the size of the palace in Ellesmera. He could smell the fresh breeze of the water that fell into a bright shimmering pool below with light that shown brightly from a huge opening above the ceiling that made the cavern glimmer as he saw many large gems that grew upon the walls of the chasm. The opening in the ceiling shown above almost half of the city and birds with sharp claws and large talons flew above the sky circling the inside of the cave and landing upon ledges that appeared upon the walls. He could see some of the birds had made nests upon these ledges and could hear them squawk loudly as it echoed throughout the crevice.

Eragon could feel the warm breeze of the wind entering the chasm and lightly brush his tunic as he stood there upon a ledge that circled the edges of the chasm eventually reaching the streets of the great city below that were lit by lampposts made of bright gemstones that gleamed brightly as the sun passed through them. Even without sunlight, he could see from the darker half of the city that they continued to glow in the darkness of the chasm itself. He saw in the distance a massive palace that gleamed with the largest gems he'd ever seen before and some gems he had never seen before. The majesty of the palace was beyond all other palaces in Alagaesia even if he combined their beauty together to match this. He noticed many other waterfalls falling upon artificial streams built upon the massive structure in a symmetrical pattern as it moved down stream from the palace and passed along the rim of the city eventually reaching two large bodies of water even bigger than the pool beneath him, which eventually the streams came to the pool as well.

Eragon could see a large cave within the pool where the water escaped. He looked back at the city continued to bask in its glory. Eragon heard Qrayven passing through the water behind him, but Eragon would not take his eyes off the spectacle he witnessed. Qrayven came to his side, but was already familiar with much of the views from heights even more spectacular than this. Eragon had never saw or imagined anything as beautiful as this, even in Ellesmera or anything within Alagaesia. He noticed that Qrayven had sat down on top of a mossy boulder that was set by closer to the waterfall that fell below.

"I'm sorry to say that I still don't know your name, boy?" He asked slighting grinning at him as he spoke. Eragon finally felt more comfortable speaking with this man after showing him such a sight as this.

"My name is Eragon," He said to him and immediately remembered why he had followed Qrayven into this city. "You said you'd bring me here and you did. Now where are you keeping Saphira… and the eggs and eldunari" Eragon continued as Qrayven sat up and began moving down the path. "I'll show you he said." Eragon suddenly heard the sound of wings pounding against the wind and flying closer to his location, he turned around and saw a giant silver dragon flying close to the edge of the cliff. It came up right to Qrayven's side as he quickly mounted onto his back.

"This is my dragon Argenta," He said looking back at Eragon with the dragon still holding up on this edge of the cliff, "she will fly us to King Gaerjo's palace across the city." Eragon quickly mounted on the silver dragon not really knowing what to think or to expect. He quickly sat down on a large saddle wide enough to fit seven people. The dragon quickly took off towards the palace. He decided he would try to communicate with Argenta as he began speaking to her mind, "You have a unique color palette to your scales, even for a silver dragon." He noticed the dragon's large scaly head toward the left railing of the saddle that Eragon hung onto and looked at with her eyes that looked a pure white color except for the black pupil that it enclosed around. He heard a pleasant and gentle female voice speak to his mind and it reminded him a lot of Saphira's pleasant, but fierce tone, only that Argenta's voice sounded to Eragon like an elder elf. "Thanks you," she said in response to his complement. "People call me the Mithral Dragon." She responded as she flew closer to the palace. Eragon had seen such a color as mithral in metals. The color takes on the color silver as it appears, but if one were to take a closer look at the blindside of a mithral colored object, appears blacker than a shadow itself. He noticed that this what the unique pattern he saw earlier as she flew in the sky.

"You definitely show more humility than my dragon," Eragon said in response to her thanks. Saphira's only flaw in her personality is she often thinks of herself as the most exquisite thing in the world and rarely relents to anyone, even if she is to give just a simple 'thank you'. The silver dragon responded to Eragon recognizing that name.

"You must be Eragon," she concluded as leaned over the railing staring into the city beneath him. Eragon looked up at her as she spoke wondering how she knew his name, "Saphira told us many stories about your courageous battles in your homeland of Alagaesia." Eragon looked up at Qrayven when hearing Argenta say 'us'. He saw Qrayven look at the head of his silver companion flying in the air and could see he had been listening to his dragon's thoughts even though he wasn't able to read Eragon's he could still read a dragons responses, especially Argenta's.

"You said you haven't heard about Alagaesia for a while, but you're dragon tells me Saphira told you both about our land." Eragon said wondering if Qrayven had been making up stories as they went along. Once Argenta landed in front of a wide staircase leading into the palace, Qrayven looked back at Eragon.

Eragon jumped off of the Argenta's back realizing he was standing upon a large circular platform. He saw two similar platforms next to this one on the further from the palace staircase. As he looked across the staircase, he noticed three more in the same symmetrical design as the ones he stood upon. Qrayven jumped off Argenta as she shot up to the sky and descended into a large opening that surrounded the edges of the palace itself. Qrayven looked at Eragon intent for him to understand better what Argenta told him. He walked up beside Eragon standing closer over the edge that looking down beneath the platform they stood upon. Eragon looked over the edge with him and saw a large room dimly lit with a five lampposts. One was made of red garnet, another of amethyst, the others of diamond, obsidian, and something that appeared to be an orange colored agate. He quickly saw that beneath these stones were five large and dark corridors. This room resembled the Vault where he had found all the dragon eggs and eldunari and could see that this room resembled that of a dragon temple that he had learned about from the dragon tombs Oromis made him study.

Eragon suddenly felt something beneath the surface of the large room beneath him make the platform rumble. This caused Eragon to loose his balance, but Qrayven who knew what was about to happen stood firm upon the ground as Eragon tried to readjust his feet to regain his balance. The violent vibration finally stopped as he was finally able to regain his balance He saw that Qrayven was now looking at him beginning to answer the question he had asked him.

"When Argenta told you that your dragon, Saphira, has told 'us' about your homeland, she wasn't talking about me." He said this as he gave Eragon a hard stare trying to make it clear that he had never lied to Eragon about anything. "She was talking about them." He said looking back towards the edge not looking over it. Eragon began hearing more rumbling, but this time it came beneath the platform itself. He attempted to look over the edge, but Qrayven part his arm in front of Eragon before he did knowing that it was no longer safe to peak inside. Suddenly, in front of the platform in front of him, out of the temple came another dragon. Eragon saw by the dragons purple scales that this one was neither Saphira nor Argentus. He studied all parts of the dragon as it circled the air above them and saw that someone was riding the dragon and cheering as he flew. The rider looked as tall as a dwarf, but didn't resemble the features of one. Eragon realized that this rider was a gnome.

As soon as this dragon came out from the temple, four more dragons, all as uniquely colored as Argenta and this purple colored dragon flew out from the ground in unison. All with riders on their backs, except for Argenta who flew back from underneath the ground. All circling the air as the purple dragon did before them. Of the riders he was able to recognize that two of these riders were elves. One was a man and the other a woman. From the other rider besides the gnome, he saw another human. By the heavy armor he wore, the helmet that concealed every part of his head except his eyes, nose, and mouth, and from the large, bulky war axe that hung upon his back, he assumed he was a guy.

After a few moments of flying around in the sky, the five riders landed upon five of the six platforms below. He saw the male elf quickly jump off his dragon on the platform furthest from him. He had a large bow upon his back with a quiver of about twenty arrows. He also wore light leather armor with traditional elvish design that ran along the creases and layers of the surface. This elf rode an orange-tan dragon that was very similar to the orange agate stone within the temple. The next one furthest from him was the gnome who jumped off his purple dragon, still cheering from the flight. He heard him speaking to the male elf in the distance and could hear this gnome actually spoke in a normal and much less humorous tone of voice. However, he still had the humorous spirit of a gnome as he saw continued to cheer more obnoxiously than before.

He saw that the gnome had long light brown hair very similar to Qrayven's hair and saw two unique blades quivered by his sides. They looked like dagger, but he could see two blades coming from both ends of each of the knifes. He also saw a hand crossbow hanging from his belt as well as tiny bolts and a small bottle filled with green-fluid. He assumed that this fluid was poison or a fire starter for the tip of his bolts.

On the second platform closest to him landed the female elf that slowly climbed off her red dragon. He saw her long brown hair blow as the wind blew against it. Her red colored dragon reminded him of Murtagh's dragon Thorn, except this dragon was much larger and darker colored than Thorn. She slowly began walking up to Eragon and Qrayven and he could see by her elegant and traditional silk robe that she must be a masterful magician for he saw elves in Ellesmera who wore such robes very similar to hers. He saw be the expression on her face that she was probably the oldest and wisest of the five. He heard the last of the riders land on the platform nearest to him. He saw the human take off his helmet revealing long red hair in the sunlight of the opening of the cave revealing that she was actually a female. She jumped off her black dragon, which had a lighter tone to it than Galbatorix's black dragon Shruikan. As she landed her heavy armor thudded loudly on the ground. As she stood back up, the plated joints in her armor made noises as she moved her legs as heavy armor often does. She looked much more tougher and stronger in appearance than any woman he'd ever met. She gave Eragon a very cold stare as she began walking towards him as the armor continued to make noises. Eragon quickly noticed a blue dragon shoot out of the ground as well and appeared much smaller than the others. Eragon recognized the deep blue scales on his dragon immediately as she landed on the open platform, which he and Qrayven stood. Eragon was overjoyed to see his dragon was not hurt and well.

She landed directly in front of Eragon as Qrayven moved up to meet the female elf as she moved onto the platform herself. Eragon run up to his dragon throwing his arms around her neck. "Saphira," he said to his blue friend before him, now looking into her blue eyes as he spoke. Eragon's joyful smile quickly turned into a frown of utter guilt. He had been taught his whole laugh never to let something like this happen to her. Saphira saw a tear come across his face seeing the guilt in his heart. "I'm so sorry I let this happen to you Saphira. I can't believe I let you get taken away like that." Saphira was touched deeply by what Eragon said.

"You did your best, Little One," She said with a sincere smile upon her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you that I was well, but the female elf, Tsavora over their blocked my thoughts from being able to communicate to." Eragon looked at the female elf that Saphira identified as Tsavora, and began to recall that she couldn't respond to him in the valley or caves even though she was alive. Eragon began to swell with anger realizing she had been the one who ordered Qrayven to conceal his dragon rider identity from me and kept Saphira from telling me she was alive. He responded to Saphira this time only in his minded, "She has no idea what she got herself into." As he said this he saw he eyes looking into his. Before he could confront her, he heard something speaking in his mind, "Welcome, Eragon Bromsson, I am truly sorry for trying to conceal ourselves from you," Eragon looked at the elf staring at him. Qrayven was speaking with the woman who wore the heavy armor, while the gnome was still speaking with the elf in the distance. She began to walk up the steps into the palace, he quickly followed her, leaving Saphira alone on the platform, "Wait Little One, Where are you running off to?!"


End file.
